There are good vibes circulating around the Marist College football team.

Marist shared the Pioneer Football League title and won eight games in 2013. You might catch a Marist fan daydreaming about whether hulking lineman Terrence Fede or talented receiver Mike Rios will be the first Marist football player to play in the NFL.

The overnight success of Marist football in 2013 wasn't about finding the right elixir to cure a few years of losing. It took a lot of patience.

It took patience from one of the nicest guys in sports, longtime Marist coach Jim Parady, who expanded the recruiting base and raised the level of player Marist brings in, but didn't stop looking for high-character human beings of whom he could be proud, even if they didn't make the NFL.

It took the patience of Marist athletic director Tim Murray to trust Parady and his staff and provide consistent support and guidance in a time where being trigger-happy on bringing in a new staff might have been the trendy thing to do.

It took the patience of President Dennis Murray and Marist College, who stuck with football in a time where most schools like Marist in the Northeast dropped their programs or completely changed by beginning to offer scholarships.

Marist stuck with Parady and his staff. Marist won seven games in 2009 — its first season in the PFL — but went 11-22 between 2010 and 2012. The Red Foxes lost five games by seven points or less in 2012, including three in league play.

"We were short a field goal, maybe a point or two," fifth-year senior linebacker Paul Sakowski said. "They really had a lot of faith in (Parady) and the whole team had a lot of faith in him."

Marist will not win the PFL every season from here on out, but will compete and will continue to produce quality football players and quality young men.

"You don't get that patience if you don't have someone like Coach Parady at the helm," said Scott Rumsey, Parady's associate head coach and defensive coordinator.

Marist competes as a non-scholarship program in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The Red Foxes can offer recruits competition, but not the type of compensation that a place like Nebraska or Michigan can offer. You get an opportunity, athletically and academically. What you do with that opportunity is up to you.

When the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League slowly eroded from nine teams to four before finally dissolving, Marist made the tough decision to go all-in with football.

It joined the PFL, a league national in scope, and if Marist was going to succeed, things needed to get bigger and better. While the transition happened, Marist played tougher teams to fill the gaps in the schedule.

Marist did not bring in a new coach. It stuck with the guy who had been there since 1991.

"I never felt that we were a long way away," Parady said. "Even in those three years, if you look at our games against the opponents in the league, there were a couple of teams that we just couldn't get by. Against three-quarters of the league, each game we played was pretty darn close."

As much as the college had faith that Parady could right the ship, Parady had faith in his coaching staff. From Rumsey to longtime lieutenants Larry Riley and Tom Kelly to newer assistants like Clarence Johnson, Nate Fields and Tunde Agboke, Parady thought he had the right program in place to get the job done.

But the tenure of a mid-major football coach is ultimately decided by the decision making of students between the ages of 18 and 23. No matter how much goodwill you build in your community, you need to win.

"Ultimately we are, as coaches, judged by our win-loss record," said Parady, who's had 12 winning seasons in his 22 as head coach. "If you lose your job, most of the time it's about your win-loss record and not what's happening off the field. That's a reality of the profession and you know that. To have the success we had last year, I felt so good for the coaches and all the work they put in."

Tim Murray said Parady and his staff are easy to work with, and put forth the type of program that's consistent with the college's mission.

"Jim never complained and he and his staff just continued to work harder and harder in terms of getting players who can compete. We're at that point now, clearly," Tim Murray said. "I think it's because of his personality and his way, it helped make a very difficult transition a little bit easier."

Success breeds attention. Before Marist upped its profile, NFL scouts were not regulars in Poughkeepsie, but they did frequent Tenney Stadium last season. Rumsey said what Marist built in 2013 was just the start.

"Right now, maybe we're on the first floor of where this program is going and there's still a lot of stories to go," Rumsey said. "This is a high-rise building that we're building here. We're on the first floor of this thing."